JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted on Thursday that Israel would not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, even as US President Donald Trump attempts to negotiate a new nuclear deal with Tehran.
Netanyahu’s remarks were his first on the issue since US-Iran talks began earlier this month, and followed a report that former President Trump had blocked an Israeli plan to strike Iran’s nuclear sites.
“As the prime minister has stated many times: Israel will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.
Israel and western governments have long accused Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons capability, an allegation Tehran has consistently denied.
Even before the war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack, Netanyahu repeatedly took issue with Iran for its backing of Hamas and other groups Israel is currently fighting.
“The prime minister has led countless overt and covert actions in the battle against Iran’s nuclear programme, without which Iran would today possess a nuclear arsenal,” the statement said.
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“These actions delayed Iran’s nuclear programme by nearly a decade.”
Netanyahu’s statement comes ahead of a second round of Omani-mediated negotiations between US and Iranian delegations set to take place in Rome on Saturday.
Trump’s efforts to reach a deal with Iran on its nuclear programme through mediation appear in contrast to Netanyahu’s long standing policy to tackle the issue using military action.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu has been leading the global campaign against Iran’s nuclear programme for over a decade, even when some dismissed the threat and referred to it as a ‘political spin’ and called the prime minister ‘paranoid,’” his office said.
In March, Trump sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging talks but warning of possible military action if they failed to produce a deal.
While Netanyahu has been pushing the US to also take firmer action, a report in the New York Times on Wednesday said Trump had scuppered an Israeli plan to strike Iran’s nuclear sites.
Trump administration officials revealed to the Times that Israel had sought Washington’s assistance to carry out an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities in May.
According to the report, the plan and its possible manuevers were under consideration for months.
But during Netanyahu’s visit to the White House earlier this month, Trump told the Israelis he would not support an attack. The president instead publicly announced the direct talks with Tehran.
On Thursday, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi urged the two sides to secure a deal, saying that time was running out.
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